Brazilian electronics and IT distributor Oderço has announced that two pallets of Zotac‑manufactured Nvidia RTX 5090 graphics cards, valued at roughly R$2.5 million (about $470,000), have gone missing after being delivered to Guarulhos International Airport in São Paulo. The loss, described by the company as unprecedented in its 38‑year history, has drawn attention to the ongoing scarcity of Nvidia’s flagship consumer GPU and to security gaps in one of Latin America’s busiest air‑cargo hubs.
Distributor alleges disappearance after weeks of silence
Oderço, headquartered in Maringá, Paraná, made the case public after weeks of unanswered inquiries to the parties handling the cargo. In a video posted to the firm’s social‑media channels, company president Oderço Matos said the shipment was expected at the airport but could not be located thereafter, and that repeated requests for an explanation have been ignored.
Matos emphasized that Oderço has been importing electronics since 2008 and has never before lost or misplaced a consignment. The company has reached out to the airport operator, customs authorities and logistics providers, but, according to the account, none have issued a public statement, and no police investigation has been reported.
Key details such as the exact arrival date of the pallets, tracking numbers, or the specific point in the airport’s handling chain where the cargo vanished have not been disclosed. As a result, the distributor’s statement remains the sole narrative available to the public at this stage.
Impact on an already tight RTX 5090 supply
The missing shipment arrives at a time when the RTX 5090, Nvidia’s top‑end consumer graphics card, is experiencing a severe supply crunch. The card carries a manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $1,999, yet it has been largely unavailable from major online retailers since mid‑September. Listings that do appear command premiums far above the list price.
For instance, a Zotac Gaming GeForce RTX 5090 was recently listed on Amazon for approximately $8,000, while Brazilian retailer Promotech posted the model at R$33,999.99. Using the Promotech price as a baseline, the R$2.5 million acquisition cost cited by Oderço suggests the missing pallets contained at least 63 units, though the true count could be higher because the figure reflects the distributor’s cost rather than the retail value.
Rumors have circulated that Nvidia may have paused RTX 5090 production to prioritize more expensive professional AI accelerators. Nvidia has publicly denied those claims, but the scarcity of the card has already made it a target for theft. Previous incidents cited in the source include a crew that rammed security escorts to hijack an AI‑hardware shipment and a separate group that stole two trailers bearing the Nvidia logo, only to discover the cargo was sand.
For Oderço, the immediate concern is financial: the company is out the full acquisition cost of the cards with no inventory to sell into a market where prices are running several times above list. For prospective buyers, the disappearance further reduces an already thin global supply, potentially pushing the cards into gray‑market channels at inflated prices.
Security and traceability questions at Guarulhos Airport
Guarulhos International Airport serves as one of the busiest air‑cargo gateways in Latin America. The disappearance of high‑value electronics through its facilities raises questions about cargo security protocols, traceability mechanisms and the coordination between airport operators, customs officials and logistics providers.
While the source does not provide a police report or official comment from the airport, the lack of a public response underscores the difficulty of tracking high‑value shipments in complex logistics environments. The incident also highlights the vulnerability of premium technology components that command multi‑thousand‑dollar prices on the secondary market.
How the case evolves will depend on whether the missing pallets are recovered and whether any of the involved parties—airport management, customs or logistics firms—offer a detailed account of the handling process. Until such information emerges, the loss remains a stark illustration of the challenges facing distributors of cutting‑edge hardware in a market strained by demand outpacing supply.
Stakeholders across the technology supply chain will be watching closely for updates, as the outcome could influence future security measures for high‑value cargo moving through major air‑freight hubs in the region.
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